SUTTON NEW TOWN ATHLETIC V MERTON ATHLETIC
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Coming off the back of a win last week Sutton were full of confidence for this home game.
For the first five minutes Merton rarely had the ball. In the 1st minute Sutton had an attacking free kick after Nathan had been fouled and Andy’s kick was cleared, and his following throw was also cleared. In the 2nd minute a good passing move involving Ben and the Griffins led to a shot from Nathan going over the bar. Another attack in the 4th minute led to Tony’s lob going over the bar.
Merton’s first real attack came after five minutes but was flagged offside. For the next 5 minutes Sutton continued to attack, but failed to make the breakthrough. Another good move involving the Griffins led to a corner, but Andy’s shot following the corner went over.
The first ten minutes had all the signs that this would be an easy win for Sutton, but the lack of a goal was worrying. Merton started to get a foothold in the game and after a mix up in the Sutton defence Merton went ahead despite having very little of the ball.
The match continued with both sides having half chances, the best being a shot from Michael just over the bar. Merton were now getting much more of the ball with Sutton’s midfield and defence more than once getting caught out of position. After last week this was a worrying step backwards.
On 30 minutes a Sutton corner resulted in the ball hitting the post after a goalmouth melee. Following that a Keiran shot was just wide of the mark. After a brief stoppage for an injury to a Merton player Sutton continued to attack but could not get a shot on target, until in the 37th minute Nathan ran into the box on the right and his shot from the tightest angle went in for a very good equaliser.
The half finished with both sides having some possession, but without any clear cut chances.
After such a dominant start it was disappointing that Sutton had let Merton back into the game but there was 45 minutes left to regain the initiative.
For the second half Ben was substituted for Mark, with the reliable Michael dropping back to right back.
The half got under way with a series of free kicks for both sided awarded by the slightly fussy ref. In the 54th minute a mix up in the Sutton defence led to another Merton goal. The match continued with neither side looking like scoring. In the 61st minute a Merton player was booked for foul play.
Although John Edgar had been one of the better performers, he was taken off in a tactical move, with Dan coming on to try to bring some control to the out of sorts defensive midfield.
Tony had a shot saved following a Sutton corner but very little else was being produced.
On 70 the last substitution was James for Keiran. Although not fully fit James started to worry the Merton defence but was unable to get any clear chances. The last 20 minutes failed to produce anything meaningful and the match ended 2-1 to Merton.
This was one of those days when nearly everyone had an off day. Worthy of mention were John Edgar for his hard work, and Michael for his composed performance.
Perhaps the team took their foot off the pedal after last week’s win, but this is a very competitive league, and the players need to look at their performance and get back to basics, the most important being that the defence need to keep their shape and the midfield needs to be better at protecting the defence.
Having said that, this is a spirited team, and we know that everyone will go into next Sunday’s game full of energy and effort.
Report by Robert
